


all you need to be is yourself

by tsuluio



Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Bar Room Brawl, Bonding, Gen, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:48:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29225718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuluio/pseuds/tsuluio
Summary: Madeleine and Rye have a chat that turns out more than expected.
Relationships: Madeleine Cookie & Espresso Cookie, Madeleine Cookie & Rye Cookie
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	all you need to be is yourself

**Author's Note:**

> all i know how to do is write bonding;; i promise there'll be more variance in the future (or maybe not)
> 
> im still trying to get a comfortable grip on their personalities so i'm sorry in advance u_u 
> 
> also there is alcohol mentioned, consumed, and thrown in this fic! just a warning :]

The bar is full today, the low chattering from the customers scattered throughout the room filling the air with a pleasant sounding hum. Rye and Madeleine sit in the midst of it, each occupied with their own: for Rye, it's polishing the barrels of her guns; for Madeleine, it's staring off into space and being uncharacteristically silent.

They met here for not much reason. Rye had burst in on the bar as per usual, nearly tearing the door off its hinges, Sparkling barely looking up from behind the counter as he slid her the usual and waved a hand generally to the rest of the room. She had found Madeleine near the back, lost in thought, and had settled in, waiting for the time when she knew the knight would speak up.

She didn't have to wait long.

"Does he hate me?" Madeleine suddenly blurts, a far cry from his usual confident and smug personality.

Rye blinks, reaching for the whiskey bottle. "Who?"

"Espresso."

Rye stares at Madeleine for so long that the knight starts to wonder if he had something on his face, at least until the bounty hunter cackles uproariously and reaches over to playfully punch his shoulder. 

She really could pack a punch, even if it was all in play. Madeleine is sure that if Rye would've ever thought to pick up knight training -- which he's sure she'd reject for all the formalities -- she would have excelled perhaps to even match his own skill. 

"Hate you? Nah, he just doesn't show he's  _ fond  _ of you."

Madeleine frowns a little, a lock of blonde hair falling over one eye; he impatiently brushes it away. "That's not much better."

"No, it's good," Rye insists, leaning forward a little. Her eyes are gleaming. "As far as I can tell, Essy's the type to pretend to blow you off until you prove yourself. Or you get as annoyin' as I can."

"And how do I do that?" Madeleine waves an arm around the bar. "I've already defeated many a beast in battle, vanquished an entire legion of the Cake Monsters, and I'm a  _ knight _ of all things--"

"See, but you say that too much." Rye points out. "If you kept it on the downlow, maybe he'd be nicer."

"But how will the people know of my noble deeds if I don't tell them?" the knight asks, crossing his arms. "You cannot  _ possibly _ expect--"

"That's the problem," the bounty hunter snickers, downing the rest of her whiskey. "You expect them to praise you. 'Cause you're a knight and whatnot, right?"

"I don't  _ expect _ them to--"

"You do." Rye leans back in her seat, kicking her boots up onto the table with a loud thump. "And it throws you off when Essy ignores you, right?"

"Well yes, but--"

"He's rightfully knockin' you down a peg. That's the whole point, Mads."

Madeleine scowls a little, causing Rye to cackle in amusement. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Hey, I think you're great, honestly. A great guy and a good friend. 'Spresso just doesn't act like you're worth his time but I assure you that you are."

His incredulous expression must say it all because the bounty hunter sighs and shifts in her chair. "Maddie, listen. Espresso still  _ talks _ to you, doesn't he? Like even if it's just a few words?"

"Yes, but--"

"So you're good." Rye grins. "A few words is enough. He wouldn't speak to  _ me _ after I broke his door down like a few days after I got here." She snorts. "But he's fun to mess with and he'll indulge you eventually. You just need to be persistent! Or, of course, just continue to be your good old grandiose self. He's quite fond of that, y'know. Well, obviously, you should know that because you knew him way back when."

She winks at him, which he doesn't exactly understand  _ why _ , but he sends a shining smile back her way. He will indulge in the fact that he can pretend to know all that Rye is talking about, because for all he knows, he might suddenly understand one day (he won't).

"I'll take your word for it," he declares, still beaming. His eyes drift to the other's empty bottle for a moment before he addresses her once more. "Do you need that refilled? I would be more than glad to pay for it, of course."

"Hm?" Rye blinks down at her glass for a moment. "Nah. I'm good." Her eyes have taken more of a sharper glint now, something that didn't go unnoticed by the knight as her gaze flicks around the room, seemingly searching for something. 

"Is something wrong?" 

Madeleine can see the tenseness in her shoulders, almost like she's ready for battle. His own hand instinctively drifts to the sword propped against the table as he attempts to figure out exactly what she's looking for.

Instead of answering, Rye stands, kicking in her chair, expression oddly serious. "When I get to three, smash the table with your sword as hard as you can, okay?"

Madeleine blinks twice before nodding determinedly. He has no idea why Rye is asking this of him, but he trusts her judgement. If a battle was to occur here, then so be it. "Of course."

"Good. One. Two. Thr--"

The knight hefts his sword and slams the edge of the blade into the table so hard that it cracks in splinters in two. At the same time, Rye snatches her bottle from the table before it can fall, raises it in the air.

"Bar fight!" she screeches, and slams the bottle as hard as she can into the wooden floor.

Shards of glass and wood fly everywhere, and there's several seconds of dead silence before the bar explodes into a frenzy. Madeleine stares in amazement, sword still buried in the remains of the table as he watches the so-called 'battle' unfold before him. Someone kicks over their own table, the platters placed upon its surface shattering against the floor, another takes a fist to the face that sends them backwards through the wall, and Rye herself lets out a battle cry and lunges forward, tackling someone Madeleine doesn't recognize, tussling across the floor. Still confused as to what was going on, the knight carefully pulls his sword from the rubble of the table, careful to not hit a nearby cookie sliding in front of him across the floor on a tattered tablecloth. From somewhere deeper into the chaos, he hears Rye shout.

"Mads, look out!"

He ducks on instinct. An entire bottle of alcohol soars overhead, missing Madeleine by an inch, only to smash above the open doorway, a mixture of liquid and broken fragments raining down in front of Espresso's highly unamused face.

The mage gracefully steps over the newly made mess without missing a beat, just in time for Rye to pop up from behind the bar, half of her poncho drenched in a mixture of vodka and some foul-smelling liquid.

"Essy! Glad you could make it!"

Espresso glares at her, eyes flickering momentarily to Madeleine before determinedly looking the other way. "I don't suppose you started this for a good reason?"

"Heyy now, fun is a good reason!" Rye stumbles out from behind the counter; in all of the chaos, Sparkling has disappeared. Madeleine notes to apologize to the bartender next time he comes around. And maybe compensate for the destroyed table too. "Maddie, don't you think it's fun?"

Madeleine starts. "Well--"

He pauses there. Espresso is clearly unimpressed, but Rye is grinning, and the knight recalls what she had said earlier. 

_ Just continue to be your good old grandiose self. _

He may not know what that entirely means, but he can most definitely be himself. The bar fight is still going on around them, flecks of alcohol flying everywhere, shouts and sounds of breaking furniture renting the air.

Madeleine grins, puffing out his chest. "Well, of course I did! How could I not enjoy such festivities?"

Espresso scoffs and rolls his eyes, but at least he's looking  _ at _ Madeleine now. "Of course you would indulge in this.." he wrinkles his nose, "...befoulment if Rye was involved."

A chair is thrown their way; Rye reaches out and catches it by the legs before tossing it back where it came from. "Okay, but at least we're out here havin' fun, yeah? When was the last time you saw the sunlight, doc?"

The mage sighs. "Very funny," he deadpans, crossing his arms. "I was out a few hours ago."

"And you probably went back inside," Rye says with a smirk. "Glad to see you took my offer up though."

"And I am very quickly regretting it." Espresso's gaze turns back to Madeleine and looks him up and down appraisingly. "Though I would not think a knight of the Republic would partake in such activities to begin with."

A glass soars overhead almost on cue, shattering against the wall, dark red liquid staining the wallpaper. Rye cheers and waves to the cookie who had thrown it. Espresso shakes his head in distaste.

"Well but of course," Madeleine says finally, once the mage's rather reluctant attention is back on him. "I was under the assumption that it was a true fight, but Rye very quickly proved me wrong." He offers the bounty hunter a sideways grin, which she returns in kind. 

If looks could kill, however, they'd both be dead under the mage's gaze. 

A vaguely awkward silence stretches between them, overlapped only by the chaos around them. 

Espresso clears his throat. "Well. Seeing as the two of you are set upon constituting to this madness, I'll leave you to it."

He turns to leave, and as soon as his back is turned, Rye elbows Madeleine so hard that he almost stumbles into a nearby table. He looks at her, confused, and she silently but exaggeratedly makes a waving motion towards Espresso's retreating form.  _ Go after him _ , her eyes say, and Madeleine gives her a brief smile of understanding before hurrying to catch up with the mage, cape fluttering as he falls in step besides the other.

Espresso doesn't acknowledge he's there besides the faint crease that appears between his eyebrows, but Madeleine is hardly deterred.

"Espresso! Would you like accompaniment back to your residence?"

The other says nothing for a moment, the sound of both of their shoes tapping against the cobblestone echoing a tad too loudly. His eyes finally flick to the knight beside him and then determinedly fix forward once more into the distance.

"I suppose."

They walk the rest of the way in comfortable silence.

**Author's Note:**

> introducing myself to this fandom with fluff is so funny


End file.
